Page:משנה תורה דפוס ווארשא-ווילנא כרך ראשון 1.pdf/18

 on? All this accords to the thought of man, who can only comprehend bodies. And the Torah spoke in the language of man. And these are all epithets, as it says, "I whet My sword of thunder". And if He possessed a sword, would he kill with a sword?! Rather, this is a parable, and these are all parables. A proof of this matter is what one prophet says that he saw the Holy One, blessed be He, "clothed white as snow", and another prophet saw Him "in crimson garments of Bozrah". Moses our teacher himself saw Him at the Sea as a soldier waging battle, and at Sinai as a prayer leader wrapped in a shawl. This means that he has neither form nor image, rather this is only in a prophecy and a vision. And the truth of the matter is that the mind of man is incapable of investigating Him or studying Him. And this is what the Scripture said, "Can you by searching find out God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?" 10 What did Moses our teacher request to receive when he said "Show me, please, Your glory"? He requested to know the truth of the existence of the Holy One, blessed be He, until He would be known in his mind like the knowledge of one of the men that he saw his face and his image became etched in his heart, so that that man is distinct in his mind from the other men. Thus Moses our teacher requested that the existence of the Holy One, Blessed be He, be distinct in his heart from the existence of everything else that exists, until he know the truth of His existence as it is. And He, blessed be He, answered him, that the knowledge of mortal man does not have the strength, since his body and soul are connected, to investigate the truth of this matter to completion. And He, blessed be He, made known to him what man did not know before him and will not know after him, until he investigated from the truth of His existence the matter that the Holy One, blessed is He, was distinct in his mind from everything else that exists, as one man will be distinct from a group of men when he only sees his back and becomes aware of his his entire body and clothing in his mind from the all the other bodies of other men. And that which is written hints at this matter and said, "And you shall see My back, but My face will not be seen". 11 And since it is clear that He possesses neither body nor form, it will also be evident that events of the body do not happen to Him. Neither connection nor separation; neither place nor measure; neither going up nor going down; and neither right nor left; and neither front nor back; and neither sitting nor standing. And nor is He found within time, or else he would have a beginning and an end and a count of years. And He does not change, since there is nothing that can cause Him to change. And He has neither death nor life like the life of a living body. And neither foolishness nor wisdom like wisdom of the wise man. He has neither sleeping nor waking. And neither anger nor calm. And neither happiness nor sadness. And neither quiet nor speech like the speech of man. And thus the Sages said, "The Almighty has neither sitting nor standing nor back nor weariness". 12 And since this matter is so, all of the matters and everything similar to them that are spoken of in the Torah and the words of the prophets are all parable and allegory. As it is said, "He who dwells in Heaven will laugh"; "they have angered me with their vanities"; "when the Lord rejoices", etc. About all of this the Sages said, "The Torah spoke in the language of man." And it says, "Is it me that they are angering?" Behold it says, "I am the Lord, I have not changed". And if sometimes He is angry and sometimes happy, he would change. And all of these matters only exist for lowly and dirty bodies, dwellers of clay houses that are founded in dust. However He, Blessed is He, is raised and elevated above all of this.